Said, Mr. R K Sharma, Secretary, Rajasthan Electricity Regulation Commission (RERC) that up to year 2012 Rajasthan will be in position to not only to meet out increasing demand of energy, but also have surplus power and Civil Society Organizations have pivotal role in the reform process as success of power reforms depends on support of society. But in CSOs and common consumers there is to lack of proper awareness and capabilities to intervene and participate in reform process, so such project for their capacity building is need of the hour. RERC and CSOs can work together to protect interests of consumers said Mr. RK Sharma in his inaugural address in Local Inception Workshop of the Pilot Project on Capacity Building on Power Reform in South Asia organised by Centre for Consumer Action, Research & Training (CUTS CART) in partnership with Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD) on 17th April 2008, at RICEM Jaipur.
There is annual revenue loss of 2400 Crore due to theft, said Mr. P N Bhandari, Ex. Chairman RSEB and Mr. Shanti Parshad, Ex. Chairman RERC in their joint session on “Power theft and its impact on tariff”. Loss due to power theft is a big obstacle in reform process. It has been declared non-bailable and cognizable offence but it still persists. Role of CSOs is important to curb this evil. This project is a good step in this way.
According to new rules effective from 1st March 30 days time limit has been prescribed of utility providers to dispose of consumer complaint but consumers are not aware of these provisions, this project can be an effective tool for capacity building of CSOs, said by Mr. BL Agarwal Chief Engineer (Commercial), JVVNL. Mr. K C Modi, Ex. Chief Engineer Ajmer Discom gave detail information on complaint and redressal procedure
Sharing the details of the projects and its objectives, Mr. Udai Singh Mehta, CUTS in his told that this project seeks to enhance the long term capacity of CSOs so that they can play the required role in the policy formulation and regulatory decision-making process in electricity sector. Among others activities, firstly, a base line survey will be conducted in the state to know the perception of consumers about power reforms and accordingly further advocacy action would be taken.
The project will be implemented for a period of two years in four territories-two states of India (Rajasthan and West Bengal), Bangladesh and Nepal. CUTS Centre for Competition, Investment & Economic Regulation (CUTS C-CIER) will execute the project in co-ordination with four project partners. In Rajasthan it will be implemented by CUTS Centre for Consumer Action, Research & Training (CART), Jaipur (India)
Mr. Deepak Saxena, CUTS- CART, the nodal person for this project in Rajasthan, he gave presentation on the Power Scenario in Rajasthan. 49 representatives of Civil Society Organizations, from all over the state work took part in the workshop